“Growing up, I never knew if I wanted to be on the offensive side or defensive side,” said the 6-foot-2, 207-pound Graham, a three-star prospect who played his freshman and sophomore seasons at Birmingham Detroit Country Day before transferring to Cass Tech last year.

“Really, it doesn’t matter. Since colleges want me as a safety, I’m fine with playing that position. I’ve always wanted to play college football — that’s the thing I wanted to do growing up — so I’d be happy on offense or defense.”

In Friday's victory against Henry Ford (2-1, 0-1), Graham made crisp, accurate throws in the first quarter — completing 6 of 7 attempts for 80 yards and two TDs — before being replaced by backup quarterback Sebastian Brown.

“He’s a pretty good safety, but he could be a (college) quarterback, too, if that was his main position all day, every day,” said Cass Tech senior running back Lew Nichols, a Central Michigan commit. “He can do really anything we ask.”

Technicians coach Thomas Wilcher believes his star athlete could excel on offense or defense at the next level. And with a bulk of the regular season still ahead, plus a likely run in the Division 1 state playoffs, Graham’s stock as a quarterback prospect should rise — potentially leaving him with a difficult decision: offense or defense in college?

“Once we get him going in the right direction, he’s going to be great,” Wilcher said of Graham’s upside at quarterback. “When we get the passing game going with the running game, we’ll have a more balanced offense.”

Play for the ages

Regardless of his future position, Graham’s Hail Mary will go down as one of the top quarterback moments in Cass Tech’s storied football history. Though the official distance was 40 yards, he was well behind the line of scrimmage when he rolled toward the St. Edward bench and launched a perfect strike to Stamps-Freeman.

“Oh, the throw was beautiful,” Stamps-Freeman said after the Henry Ford win. “J-Graham has the strongest arm I’ve ever seen. At practice, he throws 60, 70 yards. He’s one of the top quarterbacks in Michigan. He’s an athlete all over the field.”

Not only did Graham’s winning toss display his considerable arm strength, it showed his ability to read and dissect an opposing team’s defense, especially under duress.

“I was thinking in my head that I wanted to throw to that side,” Graham said. “As I rolled out, Noah was the free man running on that side.

“It was a great experience, a great play. I was just happy to see Noah come down with the ball. It was a memorable game in Ohio, for sure.”

“Jalen Graham, he’s the G.O.A.T. (Greatest of All-Time),” Mangham said after Friday’s game, just loud enough so his friend and teammate could hear him. “I mean, he’s the best to ever do it.

“He made a great play for us. Rolling out of the pocket, that’s a very hard throw. You really don’t even see that at the college level. It was a beautiful ball and we ended up coming down with it.”

Graham, a backup quarterback last season at Cass Tech, has embraced his role as the team’s No. 1 signal-caller.

“Everybody looks up to me, so I’ve tried to become more of a leader, both on and off the field,” he said. “Against St. Edward, when we were down, I had to make sure the team stayed up and everybody was ready to play. You never know what can happen.”